


Legend of Zelda: Darkness Prevails

by Kowhai_taniwha



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, How Do I Tag, Mute Link, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, more champions, original race, the map is the same as btow but there are a few more areas and its bigger
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-04-16 05:58:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14158287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kowhai_taniwha/pseuds/Kowhai_taniwha
Summary: During a daily adventure, Link wanders upon the forgotten grounds of likely, a once popular place to pray to the goddesses. in the spur of the moment, Link kneels down to pray. from that moment forth begins an adventure unlike any he's ever experienced before.or, Link doesn't want to leave his life behind.





	1. When a Hero is Unwilling

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this, it was an idea that my brother and I came up with one time while discussing the plot of Breath of the Wild. The overall story is inspired, but it does stray from the lore in a few places and changes the events quite a bit.

Link awoke to the brisk morning air nipping at his face. The boy waited, unwilling to arise from his bed. Though he knew if he wanted to have an even slightly productive day, he would have to get up at some point. He quickly jumped up and tugged on his old shirt and well-worn pants. Link picked up his travelers' sword and bow and tied his pouch to his belt. He bounded out the door and to the only general store in hateno village.

Link burst through the entrance with a loud greeting to the shop owner.

“Gooood Morning Pruce! What stock do you have today?” He grinned walking over to the counter.

“Have a look for yourself, Everything is always on display.” Pruce gave a subtle smirk in reply. “Are you going on another one of your adventures?”

“You betcha!” he placed a few rupees on the counter. “Same as usual please!”

Pruce handed over a fair amount of food and ingredients that link would use on his journey. Link thanked Pruce and left the store, he sprinted off joyously, as per usual. He ran past the guard that waved him off and towards a new direction.

He slowed to a wandering pace and studied the gorgeous surroundings, remembering to take note of the various landmarks that would help him find his way home.

As the day passed The young Hylian came across many animals that all lost their lives to his impeccable aim. By about midday, Link concluded that what he had was enough to make a fair profit. He was about to turn back when he caught sight of a smooth stone path that passed between two small cliffs. Link trudged over to the pathway and stopped to see what lay ahead of it.

Before him stood a fairly tall statue of a woman, the statue had no significant defining features that could point to whose image it was created in. In front of the statue was a small pedestal presumably for someone to kneel and pray. Unsure of what to do, Link did what he presumed best and knelt down on the platform and clasped his hands together in an attempt to pray.

Before he could even think of what to pray for, he keeled over and lost consciousness.

When he awoke he got up to dust himself off and return the village, though he noticed his surroundings and stumble back in shock. He was no longer in the lush forests near hateno, it was pitch black with odd smokey swirls, it seemed so ethereal.

From the darkness emerged a woman, she was tall, very tall, her scale in comparison to links was as tall as the highest point in Hyrule castle. She wore a dress with plenty of triforce embellishments, her blonde hair fell all the way to the floor. Saying she was beautiful would have been an understatement.

She knelt down to better speak to the small boy.

“Greetings young one, It is I, the goddess Hylia. I take great delight in you coming here.”

Link was at a loss for words, he merely uttered a small “woah” before the goddess continued.

“You have been following your destiny just as planned, but I must give you this warning, what you will face will be terrible, you will see many horrors and feel many things, but you must not give up on your quest to save Hyrule from the great beast known as Ganon.”

“What?” link mumbled. “What are you talking about? What quest? I never agreed to this!” he spoke up as he gained courage.

“You do not have a choice, it is your destiny, and destiny is set in stone.” she frowned, clearly disappointed in Link.

“What if I refuse? What if I don’t leave hateno? Then what?” Link growled, he was in utter dismay at this sudden announcement of where his life would lead him.

Hylia stood to her full height, her voice boomed and echo in the vast emptiness of their surroundings. “If you are you to speak only to say your denial then you shall speak no more!”

Link fell forwards and coughed loudly, it went on for a while before he was able to stand again. He opened his mouth to express his displeasure but no sound came out. He tried again but to no avail.

“You will return to your home and wait, there will be a day when a lady will come to your door requesting your presence at Hyrule castle, you are to comply. I suggest you begin learning another method of communication.”

And with that, Link awoke to the same scene with the statue. This time the statue seemed much less pleasing and Link did all he could to avoid looking at it. He began his trek home slowly almost always looking at the ground, only looking up to check for landmarks.

When he finally returned, he passed the guard with no greeting and dropped the game he had caught at the door of the general store instead of handing it over himself. He made his way back to his house without talking to anyone, everyone was quite surprised at this, Link would usually go to the tavern and socialize after an adventure that took that long.

Link was far too embarrassed to even look at anyone, he just went to his lonesome little house and went to the small number of books he had. He looked through them trying to find one he had bought out of pure impulse, he never thought he would need it though.

Finally, he found it, a book on Hylian sign language, oh how grateful he was to be an impulse buyer. The boy sat down on his bed and began to read.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was fairly short, but I will make an attempt to write longer chapters in the next updates.
> 
> Feedback is always welcome, I'm obviously not the best writer so let me know if you find any mistakes or plotholes.
> 
> Again thank you all for reading this.


	2. Welcome to the Castle

Link was running low on food, he hadn’t left his house in days. The poor boy had been putting all his energy into learning as much sign language as he could in as little time as possible, so far he had learned a few basic phrases and basic grammar, alongside the alphabet.

It had been more than a few days since his last adventure but he was still in shock about what his goddess had said and done to him. 

His stomach made a low rumbling noise that was finally enough motivation to take a break. The Hylian was stiff from lack of movement and his leg had fallen asleep so he took a moment to stretch it out.

Halfway through an attempt to click his back, someone knocked at the door. Link opened his mouth to notify the person that he would only be a minute, but when he remembered that he couldn’t he closed his mouth and sighed. Link would just have to trust the stranger wouldn’t leave while he made his way over to the door.

Link was almost at the bottom of the stairs when he made an impulsive decision to jump past the last three, though this proved not to be the best idea. His legs were still partially asleep so when he landed, he lost his balance and crashed face forward into the wooden floor.

He got up slowly and finally opened the door to be greeted by a young girl presumably in her late teens. She was very well dressed, and her clothes bore the triforce and other symbols that clearly show her royalty. She looked quite concerned.

“Hello, I am Princess Zelda. I have been directed here by the village folk, they stated that you were considered most worthy of knighthood. I must request your presence at Hyrule castle.” Zelda spoke quite confidently, it seemed as though she had practiced that small speech many times.

Link merely shook his head and went to close the door when one of the guards escorting her stopped the door from closing.  
“You don’t have a choice, It is my father's’ orders that you attend,” Zelda spoke once again, but with a far firmer tone.

Link rolled his eyes and nodded, letting out an annoyed sigh. ‘This is it’ he thought ‘This is what Goddess Hylia said would happen… I guess I really don’t have a choice.’ Link grabbed his pouch and tied it to his belt for the first time in a while and stepped out the door. The Hylian looked at the princess expectantly as he waited for more instructions.

“One of my knights will lead the way to the castle while you follow, you should get there in a few days time.” Zelda frowned, she was both confused and annoyed at the Hylian boy. On one hand, she had to guess what the boy wanted as he refused to speak, on the other, she was absolutely perplexed by the possibilities of what might be the reason for his lack of speech.

Princess Zelda walked off with one of the guards while the other one stayed with Link. The two mounted their horses and began at a slow trot before speeding up when they left the village. Link followed close behind the guard and just nodded or shook his head when the guard tried to make conversation.

The first day was boring, as was the second. There were a few stops along the way, each one they found themselves sorer than the last. By the end of the trip Link just wanted to lay down on a bed and never have to get up, but alas there would never be a scenario where that would be possible.

When they finally arrived, Link was led to a room in the castle that he would stay in until the fortunate time he would be returning home. He was given a selection of meals that would be brought to him while he settled in. One of the maids servicing him informed him that other guests where staying in the same hall and when the meals would be served.

Link just nodded along, he was quite bewildered. Never in his life had he been treated so highly, he quite liked it to be honest. 

The Hylian sat on the bed and gave the room a closer look. It was large with stone walls and flooring and a lush red rug with gold accents. The bed was a four-poster bed with a dark wooden framework and red curtains and bedding to match the rug. A large window with a balcony that had a beautiful view of the castle gardens, A fireplace, a large bookshelf with many books and a desk to read them at. The room had everything. ‘Maybe this won’t be as bad as I expected.’ he thought to himself as he smiled and lay back on the bed.

Almost as soon as his head hit the bed did he fall asleep. It was the nice kind of sleep, the kind where you feel like you are floating on a cloud, though his slumber did not last long as he was woken by a knocking at the door.

He stumbled over and opened the door to a maid with a large plate of food. “Good evening sir, I have brought you the meal you ordered.” She smiled and entered the room to put the plate down on the desk. The maid bowed and left the room, leaving Link alone once again.

The food on the plate was gone almost instantly and yet link was still hungry, he could wait until the formal meal though.

Link decided to look through the large collection of books and to his joy, he found a small multitude of new books on Hylian sign language. There was also the one he had at home, but he had finished that one.

The boy took out the collection of books and placed them on the desk, he took the first one off the pile and began reading. He was sure the time would pass much faster this way.

Link was right, by the time he was halfway through the book a butler came to inform him that it was about time for the formal dinner to take place. He closed the book and adjusted his tunic, then it hit him that there would be people at the dinner, that meant he would have to socialize. He was hit by a wave of anxiety as he wondered how many people actually knew sign language.

It took him a little while to regain the courage to leave his room, but it returned to him eventually and he began to make his way down to the dining hall.

The hall had the same red carpet covering the stone floor as his room and the chairs were hand carved to match the tables that were set with lavish silverware and silk tablecloths. Link felt quite out of place.

The Hylian boy found a place to sit that was relatively far away from most of the other guests, he saw two other Hylians and considered sitting next to them, but decided against it. Alongside the hylians were the Zora, the Gerudo, The Rito, and the Gorons. There were four other races that he did not quite recognize. 

One was a group of two women and a man who looked like sheep and floated on clouds, another was three men draped in dark brown clothes, and had deer's hind legs instead of normal ones in addition to that they had antlers covered in vines that somehow grew their own fruit. The third race looked like Zora, but had a dull red glow to them and seemed to be radiating heat, they also had a lot more sharp looking fins and were much shorter in stature. And finally, three short women who were made completely of bone.

Link was certainly in for an interesting time, he couldn’t wait to find out why exactly he was here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is always welcome, let me know if you liked the length of this chapter or if you want them longer.
> 
> Thanks for reading, I appreciate all of you who have taken the time to read about this AU.


	3. The Armour Barely Fits

Mostly everyone was seated by now, all the seats were taken except for one and it just happened to be next to Link. He thought that the seat would remain empty, but just as the King at the head of the table was about to speak, the doors burst open to reveal the third and final Rito. Link had noticed there were three to represent each race except the Rito, until now of course.

The grinning Rito made his way over to the seat next to Link and sat down, it seemed as though he was taking up as much room as possible.

He turned to link with a very self-loving smirk and introduced himself as “Revali, the greatest flyer ever” making Link roll his eyes and look back over to the king.

The Rito scoffed and spoke louder. “Can't you hear me? I’m trying to talk to you!” Link continued to ignore him as the king stood up to make another attempt at his speech.

“Welcome all, I am pleased to see everyone, even on such short notice.” The king spoke with a large smile on his face. “Now, you are likely greatly confused as to why I ca-” 

The king was cut off by Revali yelling loudly at Link. “ARE YOU DEAF?! OR ARE YOU JUST BRAIN DEAD? GODDESS YOU MUST BE SO LONELY IF YOU NEVER TALK TO ANYONE WHO TRIES TO CONVERSE WITH YOU.”

Almost everyone was glaring at Revali, with the occasional snicker.

“Are you finished?” The king frowned and waited for Revali to reply, but the Rito was far too embarrassed to do so.

Once again everyone was silent and King Rhoam was finally able to continue his speech.

“As I was saying…” He shot a look at Revali who shrunk back in his seat. “You must all be greatly confused as to why I called for your attendance. You see, there has been a prophecy, that calamity Ganon will rise once again. After the last attack 10,000 years ago, we have grown slack and forgotten to train champions. And thus you are here, to become champions and defeat Calamity Ganon. The council and I have come to a decision, that one member of each race shall become a champion and receive their own divine beast to aid in our battle.”

“If only one of each race is to become champion, then why call three of each here?” The question came from one of the Gerudo women at the other end of the table.

“A fair question, you shall all compete to become the champion of your race. And whoever defeats the challenges shall be granted the honor.”

This time a Hylian spoke up. “Why not just use members of the royal guard? Surely they would be better candidates than ourselves.”

“The council and I did consider that, but I thought it necessary to include all races, as the royal guard is purely Hylian. And who would be left to fight at the sides of the champions other than an army of mediocre warriors.” The king smiled. “Now, if we are finished with the questions, then shall we eat?” 

The king gestured to a servant who nodded and ran off, he soon returned with a few others, pushing trays of food and drinks. Links mouth watered slightly at the sight of the food. To say the feast looked amazing would be an understatement.

It took only a moment for the plates of food to be laid out on the table for everyone to eat and oh boy did they eat. By the time most of the guests had finished, second plates of the dishes were being brought out covered in food and brought back empty.

Though almost no one was able to stomach the desert that was served in sweet copious amounts. The dishes ended up being returned with plenty left on them. Much to the joy of the servants who were permitted to eat any leftovers.

King Rhoam stood once again as he was sure everyone had finished. “Now that we have finished that, I encourage all of you to rest well tonight as tomorrow you begin preparing for the champion tournament. I bid you all goodnight.” he nodded and sat down, he waited until everyone else had left before he took his leave.

Link had never eaten such a large meal in his life and he was quite pleased that he finally had. The return trip to his room was slow and steady, as he took in the detailed architecture that made up the halls of the castle.

Upon returning to his room, he sat down at the desk to continue his read of the Hylian sign language book he had picked out from the shelf. Link read for a long time, eventually finishing the book and opening the next one. Though it may not come to a surprise that he fell asleep at the desk, not the most comfortable way really.

The Hylian was woken by someone gently shaking his shoulder. He sat up slowly with a drawn-out yawn, next to him stood a maid, likely the one who had woken him up.

“The king has requested that all guests head to the courtyard for breakfast and an introduction to the days' schedule.” she gave a light curtsy and left Link to get ready and that he did. He donned his old worn out clothes and fixed his messy ponytail to be somewhat presentable, though he did not bother to brush it.

Links arrival to the courtyard did everything but turn heads, as per usual. He took his seat at the marble table covered in bright flowers, with a centerpiece made of lilies and silent princesses. It was quite beautiful, to say the least.

The breakfast was brought out without a speech from the king and it was finished and taken away just as quickly. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry to learn what was really happening.

King Rhoam stood up from his seat just as the plates were being cleared and began to explain the tasks for the day. They mainly consisted of choosing weapons and armor to train with and promotional business like speeches and handing out flyers in castle town.

Most of it seemed quite boring to Link who just wanted to get the whole tournament over and done with. He especially was not looking forward to the public speaking, one could clearly guess why. Besides, the whole thing seemed kind of stupid to him.

The king instructed the contestants to make their way over to the armory to meet with the armorsmith and weaponsmith. The group made their way over to the armory while the king left, likely to deal with some political matter.

They were created by two tall, muscular Hylians who like correctly assumed to be the weaponsmith and armorsmith.

“Welcome guests, we shall get you fitted out with some armor and weapons if you could follow us please” the two Hylian guards were awfully cheery and it seemed rather out of place in the current setting.

A soon as they stepped foot in the armory, they were bombarded with people checking measurements and asking questions like “what weapons do you prefer?” and “what arm is your sword arm?” It was quite overwhelming, to say the least.

Everyone was fitted out with armor that didn’t quite fit but would do. In addition to that they were given weapons, like swords spears and bows, though some had their own weapons from their cultures.

By the time it was done the previous to guards who had greeted them before had returned to the front of the group to inform them that they would go to castle town next. Link knew exactly why. 

To promote the champions tournament. 

The Hylian stayed at the back of the group for the short walk to town. When they arrived there was a small stage area set up with enough room for everyone to be lined up in two rows. Which is exactly what happened, an announcer stood in front of them and began blabbing on about how great the coming days would be. 

Apparently, a festival would be taking place between each task of the tournament, though that wasn’t much of a surprise to Link.

The announcer ended up asking each contestant to introduce themselves. Finally, it was his turn, he had to make the quick decision whether or not to actually use what little sign language he learned or remain unnamed. 

His made the choice to slowly sign “I am L-I-N-K “ he had to spell out his name as there weren’t exactly individual signs for everyone's names. Unfortunately, his hand gestures only earned confused stares from everyone in the crowd. Links shoulders dropped with the thought of how inhibiting it felt to be unable to speak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, this chapter took longer than expected to come out. I will work harder to release the next one quicker.
> 
> As usual, feedback is appreciated, please let me know of any mistakes or plotholes.
> 
> thank you all for reading!


End file.
